News in Review for Feb. 9

More sanctions against North Korea may be incoming after the U.N. Security Council condemned the country’s most recent long-range missile test on Sunday, according to a U.N. press release.

North Korean authorities said on the same day that the missile was able to put a satellite into orbit, and South Korean intelligence officials have said the launch marks a notable advance in North Korea’s quest for an intercontinental ballistic missile. The satellite reportedly launched on Sunday is said to be at least twice as large as a similar satellite North Korea launched in 2012.

Though the U.N. has promised to increase penalties, they have not released any specifics pending deliberations. These deliberations will likely hinge on whether or not China, one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, will change in its long-standing goodwill toward its eastern neighbor.

On Monday, China expressed “regret” over the missile test, and called for calm on the international stage amid the possibility that the U.S. could send missile defense systems to South Korea. Though South Korea and the U.S. have said they are strictly for defense against North Korea, China has shown apprehension that the systems could act as a challenge to Chinese power in the region.

NATIONAL

Cop who shot and killed Chicago teen to sue teen’s estate

Officer Robert Rialmo, a Chicago police officer who shot and killed a 19-year-old and his neighbor last year, filed a suit against the teen’s estate Friday over what he called “extreme emotional trauma,” according to Time Magazine.

The suit is the first account of the shooting from Rialmo’s point of view. On Dec. 26, Rialmo shot Quintonio LeGrier eight times after LeGrier allegedly came at Rialmo with a baseball bat. One of those bullets passed through LeGrier and struck and killed his neighbor, Betty Jones.

The LeGrier family’s lawyer, Basileios Foutris, called the suit “outlandish” and “a new low for the Chicago Police Department.”

LOCAL

Live entertainment tax on Burning Man upheld

Nevada’s taxation department officially upheld a decision Thursday that would levy the state’s live entertainment tax on the Burning Man festival, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. The annual festival, which takes place in the Black Rock Desert and draws tens of thousands of “burners,” was previously exempt because the art at the festival is provided by its patrons.

Even so, the taxation department found that because access to the festival grounds is limited to ticket holders and because organizers collect taxable receipts from burners, Burning Man is technically live entertainment.

Organizers have continued to express their opposition to the tax and have called it an unfair attempt to tap Burning Man’s resources. When ticket prices were announced just last Thursday, main sale tickets reflected the new tax by jumping from $390 to $424.

Jacob Solis can be reached at jsolis@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @TheSagebrush.